


to heal

by gotham_ruaidh



Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [132]
Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23072797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotham_ruaidh/pseuds/gotham_ruaidh
Summary: Jamie and Jenny share a quiet moment. Inspired by the events of 05x03 "Free Will," and set in a Book 9-era timeline
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser, Jamie Fraser/Jenny Fraser
Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [132]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/345047
Comments: 3
Kudos: 71





	to heal

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted at [Imagine Claire & Jamie](https://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/611949471568412672/imagine-claire-showing-jamie-different-herbs-and) on tumblr

Jamie smiled at the sight of his daughter and granddaughter, waiting for him outside of the new stable. He dismounted, threw a shrieking Mandy up in the air, and bent to kiss Brianna’s cheek.

“Glad you’re home,” she breathed. 

He frowned. “Is something amiss, _a leannan_?”

“Mister Ross is sick,” Mandy explained, swinging her legs as Jamie held her on his hip.

“Alexander Ross?”

Brianna nodded. “His sons brought him here on a wagon last night. Mama thinks he had a stroke. She and Auntie Jenny have been up most of the night, caring for him.”

Carefully Jamie set Mandy down, and handed her his tricorn hat. “Ye ken where I keep this in the house, aye?”

“Aye!” she smiled.

“Well then. Bree - if ye dinna mind seeing to the horse - ”

“Nope, I’ve got it. I’ll see you inside.”

He nodded quickly, then strode across the dooryard to the house, entering the back way most frequently used by patients seeking Claire.

She was slumped on the bench he and Ian had made for her, in the hallway outside of her surgery. Jenny sat, bleary-eyed, at the other end of the bench, sipping what could have been either whisky or tea. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps, and started a bit.

Slowly Jamie bent to kiss her cheek. “ _Ciamar a tha thu, mo chridhe?”_

Jenny took another sip - he smelled the smoky burn of his whisky. “It’s been a long night. We just got him settled. Rachel is in wi’ him now.”

Carefully Jamie settled on the bench between his wife and sister. “Was it bad, then?”

Jenny sighed. “The puir man. Half his body was all limp, and he was barely breathing. His sons were out of their minds.”

“What did ye do?”

“Claire got him settled. We rubbed the camphor grease on his limbs, to restore the blood. And Claire made an infusion wi’ ginseng for him to drink.”

Jamie lay a gentle hand on Claire’s knee. “Ginseng?”

“Aye, it’s the root that looks all hairy and spindly. Sometimes Claire sends Germaine and Jem and Frances to go digging in the woods and find it. She dries it, then steeps it into a strong tea. She said it helps the blood come back to the brain.”

Jenny took a long drink of whisky.

“Seeing her work on that man, Jamie…I willna lie to ye, it minded me of Da.”

Jamie froze. Jenny closed her eyes.

“I ken I’ve never told ye about what happened wi’ him.”

“He died because of me.” Jamie’s voice was low, full of pain and regret. Memory flared - the grain of the wood on the post at Fort William, and how he followed the grain with his eyes as stroke after stroke landed on his back.

Jenny set down her whisky, and turned to take both of her brother’s hands. 

“He died because of what that mad bastard did to ye. Not because of anything ye did.” She paused. “Dougal brought him home to us, in the back of a wagon. Not too different to how ye came back to Lallybroch after Culloden. Thank God Ian was there - he helped me and Dougal and Mistress Crook get Da up to the bedroom.”

“He was still alive, then?”

Jenny nodded. “Dougal arrived in the middle of the night. Da wasna awake. But he wasna dead, either.”

Quietly, Claire’s hand slid down Jamie’s back. Soothing.

Jenny swallowed. “I cared for him as best as I knew how. He was gone all limp, and his skin was so cold, but he was still breathing. I - I kent he couldna be mended. I didna ken how long it would take.”

Jamie heaved a soul-deep sigh.

“He died right after dawn. Just stopped breathing. Mistress Crook was in the corner, praying the rosary. Ian was wi’ me. Dougal was downstairs.” 

Now Jenny looked straight at her brother.

“He didna suffer. He must have been in pain, but he wasna conscious. It was very peaceful, Jamie - and he was wi’ me.”

Jamie sniffed, tears running down his cheeks. “He was at peace because he was home, wi’ you.”

“I asked Claire something, when we finished wi’ Ross and sat down here. I asked her if there was anything I could have done. Because I saw how she treated the man in there, and how he will likely survive because of her.” Jenny squeezed Jamie’s hands. “She said that every case is different, and that there was nothing I could have done. Nothing Claire could have done, had she been there at that time.”

Jamie crushed Jenny to him in a hug. Tears running down their cheeks, minds clouded with memory and regret.

“Thank ye,” Jamie rasped. “Thank ye for that gift.”

Jenny pulled back, smiling through her tears. “I’m glad ye’re home.”

Jamie gently, lovingly caressed her cheek. “It’s home because ye’re here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dinna say that in front of yer wife, man.”

“She doesna mind.”

“I don’t,” Claire piped up. 

Jamie turned to her, reached for her hand, kissed her ring. “Thank you,” he said. 

She smiled tiredly. “Our home is a home because you’re here, Jamie. Now - do your duty and take your wife up to bed.”

He laughed, forty years lighter. And did.


End file.
